The Third God sdotc-3

by Ricardo Pinto

  MAKAR

  The more intimately one knows a creature, the more perfectly one can design a snare to trap it.

  (a precept of the Wise)

  The enemy dragons fled into the north – west. Carnelian watched Osidian’s approaching in a ragged line, signals blinking between them, their chimneys beginning to smoke. He was trying to identify which one was Heart-of-Thunder when his Lefthand spoke.

  ‘Master, our lookout claims the third tower to the north has sent an acknowledgement signal.’

  For a moment Carnelian was distracted by the strange quality of the man’s voice. He realized every sound was coming to him as if he had his fingers in his ears. He focused on what the man had said. ‘Which tower?’ he asked, his voice sounding muffled so that it did not seem his own.

  The legionary explained he had been referring to the tower to the north of the one whose gate they had broken down. Carnelian realized the implication. Only a signal it was sending south would have been visible to the lookout. Thus it was an acknowledgement to the tower to its south. The watch-tower he had failed to make secure had finally sent a message northwards. Already it was speeding towards Osrakum faster than an aquar could run and so beyond all catching. Before the end of that day the Wise would know everything that had happened.

  One of Osidian’s dragons was heading straight for Earth-is-Strong. He was certain it was Heart-of-Thunder. He was composing a confession of his failure for transmission when Osidian’s tower began to wink. Carnelian stared at his Lefthand, impatient for the mirrorman above to relay his interpretation of the message. At last his Lefthand spoke. ‘From Heart-of-Thunder, Master. The Legate would like you to meet him for a conference on the ground.’

  Carnelian had Earth-is-Strong brought to a halt. For some moments he watched Heart-of-Thunder easing towards them like a baran. Then, with a glance past the burning dragon to assure himself the enemy was still moving away, Carnelian bade his Righthand dowse the flame-pipes, then he rose and moved towards the ladder.

  A dark figure appeared beneath the arch of Heart-of-Thunder’s belly accompanied by two men who seemed, by comparison, to be children. Carnelian recognized Osidian’s gait. ‘Are we safe from those huimur, my Lord?’

  Osidian came closer before he answered. ‘I believe our friend the Great Lord is in full retreat.’

  Carnelian knew to whom he referred and realized Osidian did not want to use his name. Their marumaga officers might not understand Quya, but the name Aurum was the same in both their languages.

  ‘Are you sure it is he?’

  Osidian gestured for his officers to wait for him, then indicated the smouldering mound of the fallen dragon to Carnelian and, together, they walked towards it. ‘Who else could it be?’ he said, not turning his head.

  Carnelian had no alternative to offer, but he found this flight untypical of the Lord he knew. ‘Why does he retreat?’

  Osidian swirled his hand. ‘Possibly he seeks to regroup. Your attack must have come as a nasty surprise to him.’

  Carnelian was unconvinced. ‘Still, he had your whole line at the mercy of his pipes.’

  Osidian half turned to him, then away. ‘A reaction to the shock of the explosion, perhaps…’

  Carnelian eyed the dragon corpse. The smell of its charring flesh was drifting on the air. ‘Perhaps…’ Doubt nagged him.

  ‘You failed to take your tower.’

  ‘I saw Aurum bearing down on you. Would you rather I had let him torch you?’

  Osidian turned, lifting his hands in a gesture of appeasement. ‘I am not accusing you, Carnelian. Even with your intervention, I had only just managed to turn my huimur. Less than half had managed to light their pipes. Even those were not ready to fire.’ He paused and his head sank a little. ‘Had you not slowed him with your attack, I would have been overwhelmed…’

  Carnelian sensed how hard it had been for Osidian to admit his debt to him. It was as close as Osidian would come to saying thank you. The nagging doubt emerged into Carnelian’s mind as a clear realization. ‘He was slowing before he knew I was there.’

  Osidian stopped in mid stride. ‘You cannot be sure he did not see you.’

  ‘His whole line stopped.’

  Osidian began a protest, but then understood. ‘He sent no signals.’

  ‘Though he may have seen me approaching, do you believe it possible his whole line should have done so and at one and the same time?’

  ‘What other explanation do you have?’

  ‘It was prearranged.’

  ‘To what end?’

  Carnelian squinted at the burning dragon. He was shaking his head. It came to him. ‘He wished to give you time to light your pipes. So that-’

  ‘So that I could repulse him! But why? Why set an ambush, then allow yourself to be defeated?’

  Carnelian tried, but failed to work it out. This behaviour, though still uncharacteristic of Aurum, was now more believable. ‘The trap he has set for us must be more subtle.’

  Both pondered this further as they came as close as they could bear to the dragon corpse. That burning hill seemed too vast to have ever been a living being. Rather it seemed an outgrowing of the earth itself, an abscess ripe to bursting. Carnelian was not sure whether it was this sight, the stench of cooking meat and blood, or unease that was making him queasy. ‘There is something else I do not understand.’

  Osidian turned to him, his mask reflecting the gory mess. For a moment Carnelian was mesmerized by that strange and lurid face that once again seemed to have come from his dreams.

  ‘What?’ the apparition said.

  The sound of Osidian’s voice jolted Carnelian. He marshalled his thoughts. ‘Before sending a message north the tower made several attempts to communicate south.’

  ‘You are certain it did not first send one to Osrakum?’

  Carnelian could hear the unease in Osidian’s voice. ‘Quite certain.’

  Both turned to look at where Makar was an encrustation on the edge of the land.

  ‘What could be there?’ muttered Osidian almost inaudibly.

  ‘Or who?’ said Carnelian.

  Osidian dismissed the city with a gesture as if he was trying to wipe it from the earth. ‘Perhaps the tower was responding to some earlier command of Aurum’s.’ He indicated the nearest tower with a contemptuous hand. ‘The creatures who operate these are slavish to their instructions.’

  Carnelian sensed Osidian’s conviction was hollow. A drumming in the ground alerted them to a rider approaching. An Oracle, by his robes. The man pulled the aquar up and quickly dismounted. By his movements it was recognizably Morunasa.

  ‘Why have you come?’ Osidian demanded. ‘I commanded you to hold the tower.’

  ‘I thought my Master would want to know that the tower further to the north-’ Morunasa glanced at Carnelian as if to accuse him. ‘It sent an alert to us, not once, but four times.’

  ‘We knew this,’ Osidian said in a cold voice. ‘I hope you have come to tell me what the message said.’

  Morunasa frowned. ‘There were none in the tower who could tell me.’

  Osidian angled his head in irritation.

  ‘When we arrived there we found all the silver masks already dead.’

  ‘Dead?’ Osidian sounded increasingly exasperated.

  ‘How did they die, Morunasa?’ Carnelian asked.

  The Oracle turned on him his baleful eyes. ‘I don’t know, Master.’

  ‘Were their bodies marked?’

  Morunasa glared at him, then, slowly, shook his head. Carnelian and Osidian turned to each other. Carnelian knew they were both thinking of the quaestor in Qunoth. For some reason, rather than be captured, it seemed probable the ammonites had taken their own lives with poison. Both turned the sequence of events over in their minds. At last Carnelian admitted he was at a loss. Osidian did not seem any more enlightened.

  ‘What now?’ Carnelian asked.

  ‘With him out there we dare not leave ourselves unprotect
ed. I shall have to remain here with the legion.’

  Carnelian noticed Osidian glancing towards the nearest tower. ‘I will help you find out what has been going on in the towers.’

  Osidian shook his head. ‘I need you to secure the city.’ He must have sensed Carnelian’s reluctance because he added: ‘We need its fortress as a base.’

  ‘What force shall I take with me?’

  ‘Your own huimur and as many Marula as I can spare.’

  Carnelian considered protesting that they did not know what awaited him in Makar, but realized they dare not further diminish Osidian’s strength in case Aurum should return.

  ‘Take Morunasa,’ Osidian said. He turned to the Oracle. ‘Obey Master Carnelian as you do me.’

  The black man glared at him.

  ‘Do you understand?’ Osidian said, an edge in his voice.

  Morunasa gave a reluctant nod. ‘As you command.’

  Carnelian gazed in the direction of the city, then back at Osidian. ‘What shall I do once I have the fortress?’

  ‘Send me enough render to feed my huimur.’

  ‘Very well,’ Carnelian said. He began walking back towards Earth-is-Strong. He stopped and turned. ‘Be careful.’

  Osidian gave a nod. Carnelian resumed his journey towards his dragon and could hear Morunasa’s footfalls following him.

  An umber stain on the horizon, Makar lay at the convergence of many gullies as if a fist, punching down from the sky, had shattered the land around it as if it were glass. In Earth-is-Strong’s tower Carnelian felt that, vast as she was, even she was too small a thing to take on such a city. From his vantage point he was able to see the cobbles of the leftway slipping by and kept expecting to see a courier flash past to warn the city. Earlier he had stood looking back through the smoke his chimneys were trailing. He had quickly lost sight of Osidian and their legion. Only a haze indicated where the fallen dragon still smouldered. Of Aurum there was no sign. He was Osidian’s problem now. In his bones Carnelian had a feeling he would soon have problems of his own to deal with.

  From where the road crossed the outer ditch of the city, flat roofs of beaten mud spread away on either side like scales. Those close enough for him to see were crowded with jars and earthenware pots planted with small trees and shrubs. Washing fluttering on lines seemed drab flags. Crude tables and chests sat upon burnished earth floors spread with rugs woven from rushes. Each roof was a small world, giving down into chambers where people lived. He tried to imagine what those lives were like. Simple, no doubt, but though he would not pretend to know anything about such people, a part of him envied them.

  The empty road before him was headache bright. Dry, pale, peeling walls banked its gleaming river, pierced here and there by the tributaries of alleyways. Doors and windows were shuttered closed as if against a storm. He searched away from the road across the rooftops and there, at last, he saw some people. They were peering at him over wicker partitions, round urns and leather curtains. Seeing those few enabled him to spot more. Everywhere there were small dark heads. Shocked, he became aware a multitude was watching him pass. He felt an urge to wave, to show he meant them no harm. He could see himself doing that. He imagined them coming into the open and waving back. Foolishness. He was a Master concealed within a dragon tower. The naphtha smoke twisting its black banners into the breeze was a sign of the fiery holocaust at his command. Any glimpse of him could bring only terror. He gave a snort that caused his officers’ faces to turn up to him. Waiting for his commands they did not blink. What did he want? For all of these poor creatures to like him? For them to be warmed by his condescension?

  They came to where the road forked around a watch-tower. One tine continued on through the city, the other passed through the open gate the watch-tower guarded. Carnelian knew they must have reached the Ringwall, the border of the Guarded Land. Staying on the main road they came into a narrow marketplace that ran off a great distance south-west. At its other end stood a second watch-tower guarding a huge closed gate. Something about its size and the way the worn stone sloped a little down to it made Carnelian believe this must be the head of the Pass. The same Pass Makar guarded and that they had tried to climb, only to be driven back by Aurum’s fire.

  As he turned Earth-is-Strong into the market his spirits sank further. Stalls in rows, water troughs. Cobbles, though smeared and caked with filth trodden into mush, had cleaner patches where normally a multitude laid out their wares. His arrival had caused all to flee. Emptied of its throngs, its hawkers, the place was dead.

  Halfway across the marketplace, a crumbly worn pair of stumpy towers pushed their way through the leftway wall. Between them ragged gates patched with bronze gave the impression something ancient lay behind them.

  They left the marketplace by means of a stone span across a gully choked with filth and entered another, smaller square where a third watch-tower stood guard upon a military gate. As they approached this it began to open. Carnelian regarded it with suspicion, feeling he was being welcomed into a trap. Still, he had his flame-pipes and so he murmured a command to his Lefthand and Earth-is-Strong turned to enter.

  As they moved into the fortress he was surprised. No stables or barracks for auxiliaries confronted him, but only squat buildings. To starboard the curving wall of a cothon. To port the ground fell into a ravine whose other side rose as a cliff. Steps and terraces scaled this to towers crenellating its edge. Bone-white that cliff, striated, rotten with age, perforated with windows. Alleys squeezed out through gaps from which staining spilled down into the ravine. It seemed a half-ruined anthill, but also an ancient city, gently sculpted, smiling, delicate. This was a living cousin to the dead ruins Carnelian had seen on his way to the election. A Quyan city, then. Southwards the low buildings of the fortress curved away, following the bend of the ravine. There at the very tip rose a tower. He squinted. It had the look of a watch-tower.

  ‘The gate, Master,’ said his Lefthand. The man was pointing to where there was an opening in the cothon wall.

  ‘It seems we are expected,’ Carnelian said, to cover the return of his anxiety that they were entering a trap. He was determined to face it head on. He gave the command and Earth-is-Strong approached the gateway. As they passed through it, he glanced at his Righthand to make sure the man was ready to relay a command to fire their pipes. They came into the immense circular space all hedged about with piers. Carnelian sent his Lefthand round the portholes to look for dragons.

  ‘Nothing but a few towers, Master. Spares, I think.’

  Carnelian could see the tiny figures waiting for him in the open centre of the cothon. He leaned forward in his chair. They did not look threatening. He rose and peered through the bone screen. The cothon did indeed seem empty, innocuous. He returned to his chair to ponder, while Earth-is-Strong continued advancing on the welcoming committee, Marula pouring past on either side. At last he commanded his dragon to come to a halt. He glanced round one last time, then gave his Righthand the command to dowse the furnaces. He did not want any accidents.

  Soon Carnelian was on the ground. Marula riders were swirling round to envelop the marumaga, who were wearing the cyphers of Aurum’s legion. Carnelian bade his officers accompany him and went to meet the legionaries. As he walked he surveyed the cothon. The piers were almost entirely empty. The flame-pipe racks held but two of the weapons. Once far enough away from Earth-is-Strong, he snuffled the air. It was hard to be certain through the nostril pads of his mask and so he asked his officers. They confirmed that the air seemed free of naphtha and the musk of dragons.

  As he approached the legionaries they fell prostrate before him. He bade them rise even as he scrutinized their collars for their ranks. As he had hoped, one was the Quartermaster General. He began questioning him. Soon he had discovered that their Legate, the Master Aurum, had returned the previous day from the lands below, but he had passed through the city, marching north. He judged the man was hiding nothing from him. ‘And the quaestor of th
is city?’

  ‘He’s in the Legate’s tower, Master.’ The man half turned, his hand rising tentatively to point southwards.

  Carnelian gazed in that direction, but could see nothing over the cothon wall. ‘The watch-tower at the edge of the city?’

  ‘Just so, Master,’ the man said, looking at the ground.

  Carnelian was aware Morunasa had dismounted and was approaching. He focused on the Quartermaster. ‘My dragon is to be fed, as are these men, who are my auxiliaries.’ He indicated the Marula.

  The legionary bent almost double. ‘As the Master commands.’

  Carnelian was distracted by spotting Sthax among the Marula. Could he get close enough to talk to him? He was a little startled to find Morunasa nearly upon him. He refocused on the Quartermaster. ‘Also, you will gather render sufficient to feed a legion of dragons for three days and you will send this out of the city and north along the Great South Road.’

  The man bent again. ‘If it please the Master, to whom shall we deliver it?’

  Carnelian saw an opportunity in this. He waved the Quartermaster and the other legionaries away and, when he judged them beyond hearing distance, he turned to Morunasa. ‘I shall take twenty of your men. While you wait, form the rest in a cordon round my dragon. Let no one approach other than to feed and water her.’ He indicated the Quartermaster. ‘When that man has gathered the supplies, take enough of your people to control the entrance-gate watch-tower and to form a decent escort, then guide the supplies to the Master. Tell him the fortress has been abandoned. Tell him that Aurum-’